I am a huge fan of David Fincher and, yes, this film was brilliant in so many ways. Great story, beautiful cinematography and overall production design, and the makeup and special effects were phenomenal. Really, I want to make it clear that I enjoyed this film and will no doubt watch it many more times in the future. That being said….

What really fascinated me, was the striking resemblance that this movie had to one of my other all time favorites. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Forrest Gump, Redeux. Now before anyone gets all uppity aobut it, let me first say that yes, I realize that Button was based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story that pre-dates Gump by 73 years. No, I haven’t read it, but given that it is a short story, I would suspect that the screenwriters had plenty of room to work when it came to the adaptation. Of course, for all I know, Winston Groom lifted from Fitzgerald when he wrote Gump. Perhaps it is sheer coincidence. Wheatever. Don’t really know or care. What I do know is that the similarities are most definitely there in premise, theme and storyline.

The moment of clarity came after I turned to my buddy and said, “You know, this movie isn’t even about Benjamin.” Then it hit me like a ton of bricks and continued to throughout the movie. Like Forrest Gump, this movie uses an exceptional character as a vehicle to tell the story of the characters he encounters and the times they live in. After that realization, the parallels in the story itself were glaringly apparent at times, but it was definitely different enough, as well. I love Gump and I love Button and I would most definitely never steer anyone away from watching either of them. I’m just saying…check it out.